Violent felon accused of fatally shooting off-duty corrections officer who intervened after suspect allegedly beat female



A felon with a violent criminal history is accused of fatally shooting an off-duty corrections officer who intervened when the suspect allegedly was beating a woman at a Florida truck stop early Saturday morning.

The U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force arrested 29-year-old Demaurea Grant at 7:30 a.m. Sunday at a home in Gastonia, North Carolina, and is pending extradition to Jacksonville, the Florida Times-Union reported, citing Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters' announcement during a news conference.

Grant is charged with murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, aggravated assault with a firearm, and discharging a firearm in public.

Grant is accused of killing Officer Bradley McNew, a sheriff's office corrections officer and 24-year veteran of the department, the Times-Union said.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said a male and female were involved in a violent dispute around 1:20 a.m. in the 12900 block of Duval Road. You can view surveillance video of the incident here. The suspect was observed exiting a black Mustang, placing a black handgun on the hood, removing the female from the driver’s seat, and then battering the female, throwing her against the vehicle and the ground.

Off-duty Corrections Officer Bradley McNew had just finished his shift, heard the disturbance, and went to check on the female victim, the sheriff's office said. The suspect approached McNew, said it was a family matter, re-engaged with the female, and then pointed the gun in Officer McNew’s direction, the sheriff's office said.

The suspect and female returned to the vehicle, and as they were leaving the scene, the suspect was observed hanging out of the window, firing the handgun, and striking Officer McNew, the sheriff's office said, adding that he was taken to a hospital where he died. The Times-Union said McNew was in plain clothes at the time.

The sheriff's office noted that the Mustang had a North Carolina license plate of RHL-4285.

Sheriff Waters said the U.S. Marshals took Grant ― a felon with a violent criminal history ― into custody without incident, the Times-Union said, adding that tips from citizens as well as the investigation by detectives from the Sheriff's Office, the Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force, and the State Attorney's Office led to his arrest.

Grant is charged with murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, aggravated assault with a firearm, and discharging a firearm in public, Waters said, according to the paper.

The sheriff added that a female who was with Grant was taken into custody on an unrelated warrant regarding a North Carolina crime, the Times-Union said, adding that the sheriff's office didn't release her name or say what her relationship, if any, might be to Grant.

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Chaos at the DNC: AOC debuts NEW accent and Project 2025 hysteria hits new highs



The Democratic National Convention has been going as anyone who follows the party’s antics would expect — chaotic and embarrassing.

“Total chaos both inside and outside the venue, lots of screaming, crying, and everything was fake and gay,” Sara Gonzales of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered” comments, noting that the hysteria over Project 2025 at the convention has been alive and well.

Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow took the stage carrying a copy of Project 2025 and gave a speech that lacked even a drop of self awareness.

“Donald Trump would be able to weaponize the Department of Justice to go after his political opponents. He could even turn the FBI into his own personal police force,” McMorrow said as the crowd booed. “That is not how it works in America. That’s how it works in dictatorships.”

“Correct!” Gonzales comments. “That is how it works in dictatorships, and I’m just wondering if they even understand the irony, right? Like do they have the self-awareness — 91 indictments, and throughout the night they touted the 34 felony charges against Donald Trump.”

“He’s a felon because you guys did it first,” she adds.

AOC also took the stage, and as Gonzales notes, her speech had “zero substance.” Rather, it served as an opportunity to yell in a new accent that she seems to have just discovered.

“I for one am tired of hearing about how a two-bit union buster thinks of himself as more of a patriot than the woman who fights every single day to lift working people out from under the boots of greed trampling on our way of life,” AOC yelled in her new accent while thrashing her hands about wildly.

“Everyone’s turning black in the Democrat Party,” Gonzales says, confused.


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FACT CHECK: Did Biden Pose For Photo While Holding This Sign?

The photo is digitally altered

Felon with armed robbery convictions still has 2nd Amendment rights and cannot be charged for possessing firearm, judge rules



A federal judge in Illinois has ruled that a felon did not lose his Second Amendment right to own a firearm, even after he had been convicted of multiple gun-related crimes.

The astonishing ruling stems from an alleged robbery in Chicago in September 2021. At the time, Glen Price supposedly robbed three men on a CTA train. When police searched Price, they reportedly found a stolen credit card, cocaine, a 9mm handgun, and extra ammunition.

As Price, now 37, had already been convicted of felony armed robbery three times in the past, federal law prohibited him from owning a gun. So officers charged Price with possessing a firearm as a felon, a federal statute with a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years.

On November 2, however, the federal case against Price was dismissed after U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman, a Clinton appointee, determined that the statute prohibiting felons from possessing firearms was unconstitutional. That law "imposes a far greater burden on the right to keep and bear arms than the historical categorical exclusions from the people's Second Amendment right," Gettleman wrote in the 22-page decision.

Gettleman said he based his ruling on the 2022 SCOTUS case New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen. In that 6-3 decision, the justices struck down a New York state law requiring people to demonstrate "proper cause" when seeking a permit to carry a concealed handgun.

Gettleman said that Bruen compelled the government to "provide evidence of a historical analogue that is both comparably justified and comparably burdensome of the right to keep and bear arms." The judge said he went all the way back to 1677 but couldn't find historical precedent for a similar prohibition on criminals possessing firearms.

He also said that the "plague" of violence in some communities did not override the need for historical precedent that "authorized capital punishment and estate forfeiture for felonies" as demanded by Bruen. While there are "strong policy reasons" for trying to prevent violent crime, "lifetime disarmament" is not "rooted in our Nation’s history and tradition," Gettleman asserted, quoting from another 2023 federal ruling.

Bill Kushner, a police affairs consultant for WLS-TV, argued that the statute preventing felons from possessing weapons came about in the 1930s and then expanded in the 1960s for good reason: it helps prevent violent crime. "The carjackings, the shootings, these are not just demonized youth," Kushner said. "These are people that feel that they have a free hand to do whatever they want without fear of repercussions."

Even Richard Pearson, the executive director of Illinois State Rifle Association, disagreed with Gettleman's decision. "I'm opposed to criminals who have been charged with violent crimes and convicted of those violent crimes from getting a handgun or an FOID card or concealed carry permit of any kind," Pearson said.

U.S. attorneys have already filed an appeal in the case, Law&Crime reported. The outlet also stated that the case "seems fated to find its way before the U.S. Supreme Court."

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Crook on parole brutally beats woman on NYC subway train after she tried to prevent sleeping rider from being robbed, police say



A man who served three stints in the New York state prison system over the last 15 years — and has been on parole since January — was charged in connection with a brutal attack on a woman on a Brooklyn subway train, police told the New York Daily News.

What are the details?

Police told the paper that the 53-year-old victim was trying to prevent a fellow subway rider from being robbed Sunday morning.

The victim was riding the Coney Island-bound D train to a photo shoot when she spotted the suspect sitting next to a sleeping man with a full backpack, the Daily News said.

The suspect initially backed off when the victim nudged the snoozing man awake — but then the suspect charged back and knocked her to the floor of the train, the paper said.

'He whaled on me like a caged animal'

The victim told the Daily News she suffered facial cuts, two black eyes, and a fractured finger before the suspect fled at the Union Street stop. She added to the paper that her attacker left her face "absolutely unrecognizable."

"He kicked me from behind," she recounted to the Daily News. "He whaled on me like a caged animal. I rolled under the seat to get away from him. I guess if he had a boot on, I'd have no bones left in my face. The pain was excruciating. I was violently attacked. There was no reason for it."

Who is the suspect?

Laking Bristow, 35, was charged with felony and misdemeanor assault after a subway clerk recognized him from photos released by police, the paper said.

Bristow's arraignment was pending Friday in Brooklyn Criminal Court, the Daily News said.

His times spent in prison were for robbery, grand larceny, and most recently gun possession, the paper said, adding that he was conditionally released on parole in January.

According to a June 2012 police blotter report from amNew York, transit cops arrested Laking Bristow, 27, on a train at the Eighth Avenue subway station at 14th Street around 3:40 a.m. June 27 for taking money from a passenger's pocket. The outlet said Bristow also was charged with weapons possession after two razor blades were found tucked in his socks.

Florida AG calls for criminal probes into Bloomberg-backed effort to pay felons' fines so they can vote



Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) has called for state and federal law enforcement to investigate the legality of an effort backed by billionaire Democrat Michael Bloomberg that has raised millions to pay off the debts of felons in the state so that they can vote ahead of the November 3 election.

What are the details?

Bloomberg — who has pledged to spend $100 million to help Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden win the White House — announced Tuesday that he helped raise more than $16 million toward a fund launched by the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition that has thus far paid off the court fines of over 31,000 former prisoners in order to restore the felons' voting rights.

Following the news of Bloomberg's initiative, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz (R) tweeted, "I just spoke to @AGAshleyMoody, she is all over the @MikeBloomberg-connected activities in Florida."

"There may even be a criminal investigation already underway," the congressman continued, adding, "Law enforcement all over the country should be looking for the cheating Democrats are going to try in this election."

I just spoke to @AGAshleyMoody, she is all over the @MikeBloomberg-connected activities in Florida.There may even… https://t.co/Q9zF8qeMa1
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@Rep. Matt Gaetz)1600826376.0


In a statement obtained by NBS News on Wednesday, Moody announced, "Today, I sent a letter to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation into potential violations of election laws, and I have instructed the Statewide Prosecutor to work with law enforcement and any Statewide Grand Jury that the Governor may call."

Moody added that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) had asked her to look into the "recent allegations" reported by The Washington Post regarding Bloomberg's efforts in boosting the plan for restoring voting rights to felons.

WEAR-TV reported:

Moody's letter references Florida's statute against paying for votes, referencing a Florida Department of State finding that said "even an otherwise innocuous offering of an incentive simply to vote can run afoul" of state election law.
By offering to help pay felons' fines to regain their right to vote, Moody claims Bloomberg could be guilty of violating a Florida Statute, which makes it illegal to "directly or indirectly give or promise anything of value to another in casting his or her vote."

What's the background?

In 2018, Florida voters passed a constitutional amendment allowing some felons the right to vote after their time had been served, but the state's Republican-controlled legislature later passed a law requiring the former prisoners to pay all outstanding court fees prior to having their voting rights restored.

The issue has been batted around in the courts, but for now, the state law requiring that felons pay their fees stands leading Bloomberg and his allies to raise funds to pay off the fines in an effort to boost Democratic turnout.